Because while those IPs have been allocated it does not mean they're being currently used. So, ARIN can't allocate any more to providers but many providers are

Because while those IPs have been allocated it does not mean they're being currently used. So, ARIN can't allocate any more to providers but many providers are not yet feeling the pinch yet so they're not passing the cost onto you. Give it a time and you'll start seeing IPv4's coming at a premium and IPv6's being free. edit Also interesting, check out whose holding the /8's. [1] Some of them make sense like AT&T, but others don't...like MIT. Why's a university holding 224 ip addresses? Well, they just happen to be one of the first network holders. HP has 2 /8's which sounds pretty absurd (unless there's some reason I don't know that HP needs over 32 million ip addresses).